1917 North Carolina State League — Regular Season Recap
Pennant fever strikes NCSL as four teams battle for title
Charlotte holds off challengers for regular season repeat
FINAL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS
Code:
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Charlotte Hornets 68 52 .567 - 62-58 6 37-23 31-29 7-2 20-14 Clinched W1 3-7
Winston-Salem Twins 67 53 .558 1.0 66-54 1 35-25 32-28 5-6 19-19 L1 7-3
Raleigh Capitals 65 55 .542 3.0 65-55 0 37-23 28-32 3-7 20-17 L1 5-5
Asheville Tourists 63 57 .525 5.0 68-52 -5 35-25 28-32 5-6 21-30 L2 5-5
Durham Bulls 51 69 .425 17.0 49-71 2 27-33 24-36 6-5 21-20 W2 5-5
Greensboro Patriots 46 74 .383 22.0 51-69 -5 26-34 20-40 6-6 20-21 W1 5-5
Wow, what a finish.
For awhile it looked like the Charlotte Hornets would run away with the 1917 NCSL title, with Raleigh, Winston-Salem and Asheville duking it out for second place. But then the Hornets -- who had built a lead of 10+ games in the standings -- started slipping, and the other three teams picked up the pace.
It resulted in the most exciting pennant race in the five-year history of the North Carolina State League. With a week to play, any of the top four teams could have snared the regular season title. With three games to play, Charlotte led Winston-Salem by two, but the Hornets lost twice to Raleigh and Winston beat Greensboro twice.
With one to play, the Hornets and Twins were tied! But Charlotte drilled Raleigh and Winston lost to the lowly Patriots to give the Hornets their second straight regular season crown. Hats off to boys from the Queen City. They swooned a bit but they never let another team get ahead of them in the standings after taking command of the lead during the first week of the season.
Charlotte and Winston were the top two hitting teams in the league in 1917.
Angel Pellicer(pictured), Winston’s star outfielder, was the batting champ again this season. He had a .330 average, 146 hits and 70 RBIs -- all league bests. Pellicer in fact was the league leader in 10 different offensive categories.
Luis Ramirez (3B) and
Ivan Martinez (1B) paced the Hornets with .317 and .308 averages.
The playoff series could be an offensive slugfest!
But the pitchers aren’t too shabby either.
Rudy Young and
Javier Guerra each won 15 games for Charlotte. Winston got a huge season from
Gary “Brick” Lee, who was 19-7. Lee, remember, was traded to Winston-Salem back in 1916 from Durham. Bad move by the Bulls.
Jack Fry, considered the No. 1 prospect a couple of years ago and the No. 2 prospect coming into this season, is living up to his billing. Fry went 14-8 in his first Big Club season with the Twins, posting a 3.07 ERA.
Going around the league, Raleigh finished third -- just out the playoff series -- for the third time in five years. RF
Bill Robbins (.317 average) and 1B
Sean Silver (.307, 20 doubles, 55 RBIs) kept the Capitals in contention to the end.
Oliver “Skull” Jenkins kept his ERA under 3.00 this season (barely) but he posted a losing record, 11-12, for the first time.
Andy Owens led the Caps staff this year, with a 15-13 record. Interestingly, Raleigh traded the very first pick of the 1913 NCSL draft, pitcher
Jerry Parker, to Charlotte mid-season. Parker was 9-11 at the time, with an ERA of 4.01. He went 4-4 as Charlotte’s No. 3 the rest of the season…
Asheville fans were pretty disappointed that the Tourists didn’t make it back to the playoffs. But the Tourists actually posted the same record as last season. 63-57. The league was just that much tougher this go around.
Chris Wilson had a pretty good season at 14-9, but
Merlin "The Wizard" McNeill struggled to a 13-14 record after blazing to a great start that included the first no-hitter in league history. His ERA jumped to 3.68 -- about a 1.40 jump from the championship season of a year ago. Third-sacker
Jose Perez led Asheville’s hitting with a .316 average, 16 triples, 27 doubles and 60 RBIs.
Durham suffered its first losing season since joining the league five years ago. The Bulls were .500 last season, so their track continues going the wrong direction. Every starting pitcher had a losing record. Lefties
Garrett McDonald (RF) and
Jorge Ledesma (1B) both hit in the .300 range.
Anthony Watson finished with a .283 average after returning from his injury. But not many highlights apart from that. The manager and GM both got canned at season’s end.
Greensboro, well, what can you say about the Patriots? We made fun of the Hornets the first few seasons but they have improved. The G-men finished last for the third year in a row. The Pats were fifth in 1913 and fourth in 1914. This year at 46-74 marked the worst season in the history of the struggling franchise. Right fielder
Lester Kennedy had a solid season, batting .303 but offense obviously wasn’t Greensboro’s forte this season. On the plus side, the Pats’ junior team won the Developmental League…
OK, on to the playoffs, where Winston-Salem will go for its league-best third NCSL title. Hey, the Twins’ other championship seasons were in odd years, so it might be safe to put your money on Winston.